Kitties missing after families fled path of Hurricane Matthew

Two kitties lost during the evacuation of Hurricane Matthews are being sought in Middle Georgia. Reece’s, left, went missing near Ocmulgee East Boulevard in Macon. Snoopy went missing near Eagles Springs in Centerville. Special to The Telegraph

Two kitties lost during the evacuation of Hurricane Matthews are being sought in Middle Georgia. Reece’s, left, went missing near Ocmulgee East Boulevard in Macon. Snoopy went missing near Eagles Springs in Centerville. Special to The Telegraph

It was the beginning of October this year when we had reports of a very large hurricane heading toward the Southeast. Hurricane Matthew had already wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and was heading our way.

It then hit Haiti, next Cuba and clobbered the Bahamas as a category 3 and 4 hurricane. This was no small storm.

Residents along the Southeast coast were being given plenty of warnings about the approaching storm and about the probable devastation. People were taking the warnings seriously.

Folks in Savannah were making plans to evacuate to safety before the storm hit. They had to move quickly, gather up what was most dear to them and leave to beat the incredibly strong storm.

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Two families, Jim and Kathy Ryan and Aaron and Jessica Cavinder, who do not know each other, along with many others in Savannah, where determining what items of value to take and what to leave behind, not having any idea what they would come home to or if they would even have a home to come back to.

But both of these families decided the same thing was too important to risk leaving behind at the mercy of Hurricane Matthew. So the Ryans quickly packed their white and black cat, Snoopy, in the car while the Cavinders put their tortoiseshell calico kitty named Reese’s safely in their cars and headed west away from Savannah.

The Ryans were going to Centerville, where they would stay with family. The Cavinders were going to Atlanta, where they would stay as well.

The Ryans made it safely to Centerville in the Eagle Springs area and were enjoying the hospitality of their family. The Cavinders were still en route when they decided to stop at the Texaco station on Ocmulgee East Boulevard near Geico and Dairy Queen.

At different locations, both the Ryans and the Cavinders put a non-escape harnesses on their kitties to take them for a break. And both families encountered the same tragic disaster.

Snoopy and Reese’s were both spooked by something. Who knows if it was just the scary storm coming, being in a foreign place or being away from home? Who knows what scared them? But terrified they were and they escaped the escape-proof harnesses in record time and ran away.

Both families were frantic and searched everywhere and continue to search everywhere. All the while Snoopy and Reese’s were in unfamiliar territory without a clue where they are or how to find their parents.

They’ve been gone for more than a month now. A month of the searching by the Ryans and the Cavinders, pleading with others to help, listening for sightings. It’s been a month of trying to coordinate search efforts long distance in unfamiliar cities.

It also been a month of grieving these losses, it was a month of adjusting to coming to their homes without the fur babies they had when they left home. They’re dealing with the pain of coming home empty handed. Both families are heartbroken.

Because the Ryans and Cavinders live out of town, they need our help to search for these babies. With your help there is hope we can help find the white and black Snoopy somewhere in Centerville and hope we can find the tortoiseshell calico Reese’s somewhere near Ocmulgee East Boulevard.

It would be the most incredible Thanksgiving for these two families if we could offer their to kitties to them. Won’t you please help us look for them?

If you see Snoopy, the white and black kitty, near Eagles Springs in Centerville please call 912-695-1149. If you see Reese’s, the tortoiseshell calico, near Ocmulgee East Boulevard, in Macon, please call 386-212-9889. The families are offering rewards for their safe returns.

We would love to have them home for Thanksgiving so we could bring indescribable joy to two suffering families.

Send questions to acpup247@yahoo.com. Visit www.acpup.com or like his Facebook page.